London: Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has said that foreign ownership of Premier League clubs is good for the English game.

According to SportsMole.co.uk, critics have suggested that the increasing influence of overseas shareholders is stripping the country`s sport of its identity, but Usmanov, Britain`s richest man with a personal fortune of 13 billion pounds, has stressed that foreign ownership is only criticised when clubs are not successful.

Usmanov has also repeated his public desire to take full control of Arsenal, if the club`s majority shareholder, American Stan Kroenke, decides to sell his stake in the Emirates Stadium outfit, the report said.

Non-English benefactors, including all of those sides currently occupying the top six places in the table, own half of the top flight`s teams, the report added.